An Overview of the Ethnography Program
Muriel 'Miki' Crespi, National Park Service
February 25, 2003
Abstract: In one of her last presentations before her death April 2003, Miki Crespi gave an overview of the National Park Service Program in Applied Ethnography. The overview included, first, how the program started, with the development of Native American Relationship Policy in 1979, Crespi's arrival in 1981. Second, it addressed the Program's integration into the National Park Service through applying legislation such as the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. Third, it described the changes to the resource management culture of the National Park Service itself necessary to dealing with American Indians and other peoples in modern-day, rather than historical, contexts. Fourth, it outlined the policy changes needed to define peoples traditionally associated with particular NPS resources, and develop strategies toward consulting with them as part of resource management and planning. These definitions and strategies revolved around the concept of ethnographic resources, i.e. resources NPS manages as seen from the viewpoint and lives of peoples traditionally associated with them.
